Packaging: Consumer needs shift product offerings
With more consumers asking for smaller items in more sustainable packaging, manufacturers have to change their processes and products.
By Allison Manning, Associate Editor -- Modern Materials Handling, 10/16/2008
When consumers change their minds about how they want their products – smaller items in more sustainable packaging – retailers jump to give them what they want. But these changes directly affect the manufacturers and distributors, who may need to switch products or processes used.
Martin Clark, Director of Marketing and Business Development, North America at FKI Logistex, said a broader education of the consumer on global warming and sustainability, as well as economic and cultural factors demanding smaller sized goods, have led stores to ask for retail-ready product directly from the manufacturer.
Companies are using smaller packages – think six-packs of beverages instead of 24-packs – and less protective casing. Those in the palletizing business need to take more care with the product, often upgrading equipment to protect it.
“If you have a customer that wants to remove the packaging material, it makes it more susceptible to damage unless we can respond with a gentler way of handling that product,” Clark said.
FKI’s bumpless case turner has helped customers who handle bottles of beer. Corrugated dividers commonly placed between bottles have been eliminated, to be more sustainable and save money. FKI had to develop a product that didn’t have any impact with the case, protecting it from damage.
“That’s one example of how product development on our part allows the customer to reduce their packaging,” Clark said.
“Manufacturers are jumping on that bandwagon of consumer sentiment,” he said, “using it as an excuse to take the cost out of that product.”
Increasingly, the principal packaging distributors deal with is the display package that will ultimately influence the consumer. Because the items aren’t protected by outside packaging, handlers need to be gentler, taking care not to dent or mar the manufacturer’s advertisement.
Working with smaller product sizes, like the 6-pack of bottles, may also necessitate different sorting equipment or conveyors in a distribution environment. For manufacturers, filling those bottles takes a shorter amount of time, increasing line speed. This may mean longer conveyor lines.
“What we as packagers and materials handling engineers are faced with is a double whammy,” Clark said. “We’re hit with packages that are smaller and harder to handle and at a much faster rate.”
At Pack Expo, FKI will be introducing a new robot, which will move smaller packages to create a pattern to palletize a load. In the past, Clark said a lane divider would have been used to palletize. The robot, called the PL-950, can be reconfigured from handling a six-pack sized product to a 24-pack.
“Package sizes are continuing to change,” he said. “This gives us better flexibility and ease in changing how you palletize.”
As for the future, Clark says it’s hard to predict what consumers will want. The backlash against bottled water is an issue companies will have to monitor. Shoppers may begin taking a more European approach to their shopping, making more frequent, smaller trips rather than loading up the SUV with bulk goods from a warehouse store.
“One things for sure, in 10 years, packaging types are going to be a lot different,” Clark said.
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